June 24, 1999
Dr. Judith Holt
Office of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Switzer Building, Room 4622
330 C St., SW
Washington, DC 20202
Reference: Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study Design
Task Order 6
SRI Project 3421; RTI Subcontract 2-36U-7051
Dear Judy:
Enclosed please find the direct assessment workgroup membership list and work plan for the above-referenced task. These constitute the deliverable for subtask 8.
Please contact me with any questions or comments.
Sincerely,
Jose Blackorby, Ph.D.
Senior Education Researcher
Center for Education and Human Services
cc: Mary Wagner, CEHS Center director
Donna Schanck, SRI Contract Administrator
Sandra Warren, RTI Task Order Manager
SPECIAL EDUCATION ELEMENTARY LONGITUDINAL STUDY (SEELS) Direct Assessment Workgroup Membership and Work Plan
In commissioning a design for a direct assessment as a part of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS), the Office of Special Education Programs sought technical support for design activities from a workgroup composed of researchers with outstanding experience in a variety of content and technical areas, including issues related to early reading, psychological measurement and instrumentation, functional assessment, low-incidence disabilities, cognitive disabilities, deafness, blindness/visual impairments, learning disabilities, curriculum-based measurement, language minority issues, social skills measurement, and accommodations.
Direct Assessment Workgroup Members
SRI International proposed the following workgroup members, all of whom were approved by OSEP and have agreed to lend their expertise to the SEELS direct assessment design work.
Name |
Organization |
Address |
Numbers |
Tom Allen |
Gallaudet University |
800 Florida Avenue, N.E. Washington, DC 20002 |
Phone: 202-651-5575 Fax: 202-651-5746 tom.allen@gallaudet.edu |
Anne Corn |
Vanderbilt University |
George Peabody College for Teachers Nashville, TN 37203 |
Phone: 615-343-8749 Fax: 615-343-1570 anne.corn@vanderbilt.edu |
Bill Frey |
Westat |
4340 East West Highway, Suite 402 Bethesda, MD 20814 |
Phone: 301-251-5198 Fax: 301-294-4475 freyw1@westat.com |
Douglas Fuchs |
Vanderbilt University |
George Peabody College for Teachers Nashville, TN 37203 |
Phone: 615-343-4782 Fax: 615-343-1570 doug.fuchs@vanderbilt.edu |
Frank Gresham |
University of California, Riverside School of Education |
900 University Ave Riverside, CA 92521 |
Phone: 909-787-4516 Fax: 909-787-3942 frank.gresham@ucr.edu |
Judith Holt |
Office of Special Education Programs U.S. Department of Education |
Switzer Building, Room 4622 330 C. Street, SW Washington, DC 20202 |
Phone: 202-358-3059 Fax: 202-205-8971 home office: 301-951-3461 judith_holt@ed.gov |
Joseph Jenkins |
University of Washington |
1825 7th Ave. W Seattle, WA 98119 |
Phone: 206-281-9619 Fax: jjenkins@u.washington.edu |
Kevin McGrew |
Institute for Applied Psychometrices |
20293 Co. Rd. 45 Clearwater, MN 55320 |
Phone: 320-558-2314 Fax: 320-255-4237 IAPllc@worldnet.att.net |
Rollanda OConnor
|
University of Pittsburgh Department of Special Education |
4H01 Forbes Quadrangle Pittsburgh, PA 15260 |
Phone: 412-648-2621 Fax: roconnor+@pitt.edu |
Martha Thurlow |
National Center on Educational Outcomes University of Minnesota |
350 Elliott Hall 75 E. River Road Minneapolis, MN 55455 |
Phone: 612-624-4826 Fax: 612-624-0879 thurl001@tc.umn.edu |
Addison Watanabe |
San Francisco State University Department of Special Education |
1600 Holloway Ave San Francisco, CA 94132 |
Phone: 415-338-1248 Fax: spedad@sfsu.edu |
Work Plan
Given the limited amount of time advisors have to offer and for which they can be reimbursed within the budget of the design task (a total of 7 days each), we do not plan to convene the group in person. Rather, we propose to gather their ideas and draw on their expertise through five extended conference calls (2 to 3 hours) at key points in the design process. We will prepare materials as background to each call and will provide an agenda for using the time together effectively. We propose the following points for discussion in the design of the direct assessment. The purpose of each call and the materials to be reviewed before the calls are described briefly.
Conference Call Topic |
Activities/Decisions |
Approximate Time Frame |
Kick-off meeting, academic measures |
|
Late June 1999 |
Social-emotional measurement/student interview |
|
Late July 1999 |
Inclusion criteria/accommodations |
|
Mid to late August 1999 |
Alternative assessments |
|
Mid September 1999 |
Field test of direct assessment |
|
November 1999 |
Written comments provided by workgroup members will be shared with OSEP and incorporated into the final versions of the assessment and supporting materials.